By Morissa Lindsay
Barbados’ defence of the Cricket West Indies CG Insurance T-20 Blaze Championship has ended on a sadnote for last year’s champs. The title now belongs to Jamaica who finished the tournament today with a superior net run rate and thus claimed the coveted trophy in what was a keenly contested battle.
The T-20 Blaze provided some exciting competition between the female teams representing the various franchises around the region over the last couple of days at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
Today was the final day of competition and a win for defending champions Barbados would have ensured they retained the trophy having entered today’s final encounter leading the way with 16 points.
Instead, the Barbadian women lost their final match by 19 runs to Trinidad and Tobago while Jamaica won theirs and moved up to 16 points as well.
The Trinidad and Tobago Women won the toss this afternoon at Providence Stadium and posted 108 for six from their allotted 20 overs. In response to the target, Barbados managed 89 for seven from their 20 overs which resulted in them losing for the first time in the competition and exposing themselves to possible heartbreak from the outcome of the other match which eventually did materialise.
Before the start of their matchup this afternoon against the Leeward Islands team, Jamaica sat in second position on 12 points and a victory which they accomplished by defeating the Leeward Islands by 124 runs, ensured the reggae ladies earned four match-winning points, 16 points with Barbados at the top of the point standings, and the rest up to the mathematicians.
Jamaica bowlers needed to restrict the Leeward Islands below 120 runs to dethrone Barbados and they did just that. Barbados’s run rate stood at 1.428 compared to 1.146 by Jamaica – a separation of 0.282 which they achieved by restricting the Leeward Islands amazingly to a paltry 46 for the loss of only three wickets in 20 overs. The Leeward Islands finished at the bottom of the standings.
The toss has proven crucial throughout this tournament and Barbados led by captain Hayley Matthews were sent in to bat by her opposite number Anisa Mohammed, who won the toss.
West Indies all-rounder Britney Cooper as well as Rachel Vincent both accounted for 22 runs each. It was a wonderful effort not only from Cooper and Vincent but also Mohammed who also made a good contribution of 20 runs.
Matthews with her off-breaks and fellow West Indies fast bowler Shakera Selman were among the wickets with two each from their allotted four overs while pacer Shanika Bruce who has looked good in this competition took one.
The target of 109 seemed attainable for a strong Barbados batting lineup led by Matthews who has been outstanding throughout the tournament. However, the Barbadian batters sadly did not live up to expectations.
Credit to Trinidad and Tobago for their great bowling display led primarily by Mohammed, the first West Indian woman to get a hundred wickets in One Day International cricket. During her spell, Mohammed captured three wickets for 11 runs from three overs with her right-arm off-spin. Ragoobar Kamara with her right arm medium pace grabbed two wickets for 16 runs from her allotted four overs while Leeann Kirby took one wicket for 15 runs from two overs. Those three were the pick of the Trinidad
and Tobago bowling.
Aaliyah Alleyne with 26 runs, Kyshona Knight scored 23 and Matthews 18, contributed with the bat for Barbados but it was just not enough.
Barbados would have been hoping the Leeward Islands could have put up a strong showing against the Jamaicans. The Jamaicans led by Captain Stafanie Taylor who is also the skipper of the West Indies women’s team won the toss and elected to bat. It was a smart decision from Taylor and Jamaica knowing that a good total would set them up nicely in terms of the run rate. They scored a mammoth 170 for five from 20 overs inclusive of a brilliant 83 from Natasha McClean. The experienced Taylor also delivered a
well-played half-century of 56.
After 15 overs Leeward Islands were a pedestrian 31 for three and struggled against a good Jamaican bowling attack. Though not losing any further wickets, Leeward Islands added a meagre 15 runs in their next five overs. Captain Shawnisha Hector top scored with 17 runs for the Leeward Islands, Saneldo Willett had the next best showing of 16 and Rosalie Dolabaille contributed four.
In the bowling department, Chinelle Henry, Waisome Neisha and Corrine Howell captured one wicket each for the newly crowned T-20 champions Jamaica.
Next up is the CWI CG Insurance Super 50 Cup competition also to be played in Guyana. Defending champions Barbados will hope to retain that title when the competition bowls off Thursday, June 16 at Providence Stadium.
Read our ePaper. Fast. Factual. Free.
Sign up and stay up to date with Barbados' FREE latest news.
Barbados Today firmly discourages any commentary or statements that are libelous, disruptive in nature or incites others to violate our Terms of Use. Any submissions made on our comment section, are solely the views of the individual and not Barbados Today.